The over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform of Goldman Sachs-backed financial services startup Circle[1] doubled its minimum Bitcoin[2] trade amount to $500,000 amid what it calls a “robust market”, Business Insider reports[3] Monday, April 23.
In comments to Business Insider, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the move preempts a U-turn in crypto trading markets, which saw volumes decline in Q1 this year as Bitcoin and altcoin asset prices fell.
“The minimum ticket size has moved up to $500,000 with an average of $1 million,” he told the publication, noting the company’s OTC platform Circle Trade routinely handles transactions over $100 mln, adding “[t]hat watermark will continue to rise.”
Circle has made a conspicuous return to the cryptocurrency industry this year, most directly in its acquisition[4] of major crypto exchange Poloniex[5] in February.
Going forward, proponents of OTC trading see advantages in offering large-scale investors a method to interact with Bitcoin ‘wholesale,’ an option which traditional exchanges with less liquidity cannot match.
“If I have $5 million, I can’t do that trade on GDAX,” an unnamed industry source added to Business Insider.
Last week, Cointelegraph reported on rumors Brazil’s biggest investment firm was preparing to launch[6] an OTC exchange of its own.
Hitting $9,000 on April 21[7] and fluctuating around that mark since, Bitcoin continues to spark fresh optimism about prices hitting new all-time highs in the near future, with recent predictions from industry insiders running as high as $250,000[8] per coin.
